Climate chaos outpaces all predictions

Hundreds of scientists, including 30 Nobel Prize winners have published an open letter to governments pointing out that recent data indicates climate chaos is happening much faster than predicted and major economic and political disruption is inevitable.

The 375 scientists openly criticise major world leaders for ignoring climate change and thereby risking significant harm to large sections of humanity.

Hillary Clinton, for example, has not mentioned climate change once since receiving the endorsement of Bernie Sanders.

Top scientists warn of ‘real, serious, immediate’ climate threat

375 of the world’s top scientists, including 30 Nobel Prize winners, published an open letter: the evidence is clear that humans are causing climate change. The seas are rising, the oceans are warming, the lower atmosphere is warming, the land is warming, ice is melting, rainfall patterns are changing and the ocean is becoming more acidic. These facts are incontrovertible. No reputable scientist disputes them. It is the truth. Despite these facts, the letter reports that the US presidential campaign has seen claims that the earth isn’t warming, or it is only a natural warming, or that climate change is a hoax. These claims are false. The claims are made by politicians or real estate developers with no scientific experience. These people who deny the reality of climate change are not scientists.

Melt area in 2015 exceeded more than half of the ice sheet on July 4th for the first time since the exceptional melt events of July 2012, and was above the 1981-2010 average on 50 of 92 days. The length of the melt season was as much as 30-40 days longer than average in some areas.

This means 19 cubic kilometres more ice is falling into the sea each year, an increase of about 8% on earlier figures. The faster rebound is thought to be the result of hotter, more elastic mantle rocks under eastern Greenland, a remnant from 40m years ago when the island passed over the hot spot that now powers Iceland’s volcanoes.

Records of temperature that go back far further than 1800s suggest warming of recent decades is out of step with any period over the past millennium. This year has already seen scorching heat around the world, with the average global temperature peaking at 1.38C above levels experienced in the 19th century. Just five more years of C02 emissions at current levels will virtually wipe out any chance of restraining runaway climate change.

While the presidential candidate talks regularly about her plan for the US to become a “clean energy superpower”, in recent months she has rarely made reference to the planetary crisis that necessitates it. On Monday, when she launched her pitch to millennials online, she could find no room for an issue that will affect that voting cohort more than any other.

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Geoff is an author, publisher and performer dedicated to building an independent media. He worked for Australian Consolidated Press as a Packer editor until starting his own media company in the mid-nineties.
The Generator started life as a radio show on Byron Bay's Bay FM and continues as part of The Cage - http://cage.live